Telegram has reported a massive increase in its active userbase, crossing the 500 million mark for the first time. Announcing the new milestone, the platform’s founder and CEO, Parel Durov, says 25 million new users have joined the platform 72 hours to yesterday evening. Most of the new registrations were users from Asia(38%), followed by Europe(27%), Latin America (21%), and 8% from the Middle East/North Africa(MENA) region.
The raid of new registrations for Telegram follows Facebook’s controversial move that mandates WhatsApp users to share data with its portfolio of services.
Compared to last year, an average of 1.5million new users signed up for Telegram every day.
“We’ve had surges of downloads before, throughout our 7-year history of protecting user privacy. But this time is different,” Durov said.
The controversial WhatsApp policy changes, effective February 8th, has driven more users to alternative platforms, with Telegram and Signal among the most favored for their privacy and security.
Durov says, “People no longer want to exchange their privacy for free services. They no longer want to be held hostage by tech monopolies that seem to think they can get away with anything as long as their apps have a critical mass of users.”
The secure messaging app is, no doubt, a refuge for those fleeing Facebook’s WhatsApp, and the platform promises not to let its users down.
WhatsApp has come clear yesterday trying to clarify its new policy changes that have drawn criticism from many.
Read Next: realme is Set to Launch More Smartphones in Kenya This year
